Supreme Court blocks challenge to anti-terrorism law

WASHINGTON -- One of the most controversial anti-terrorism laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks may be beyond normal judicial review, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

In a 5-4 decision, the court's conservative justices ruled that lawyers, journalists, human rights activists and others lacked standing to challenge a law passed in 2008 that increases the government's ability to intercept international communications.

The plaintiffs had contended that even the potential of government snooping – which, they said, would violate the Fourth Amendment – was forcing them to change the way they communicate with clients and sources.

The question before the high court wasn't whether the law itself, passed near the end of the Bush administration, was constitutional. It was whether those challenging it even had the ability to find out.

4. We've gone through the looking glass. It's Malice in Terrorland.

6. This Stands On Its Head

The notion that we have 3 co-equal branches of government when there is no oversight of the executive branch when it comes to foreign surveillance. Abuse will be the predictable outcome of this decision and it will haunt the court to have this blood on their hands.